Health and Wellness

Archive for March, 2010

Nutrition plays an important role in our healthy lifestyle, to live a healthy life you need to take nutritious food every day. There are certain tips to be followed to maintain good health, they are

1. Eat six meals a day.  If you’ve been following the typical nutritional advice of cutting back on calories and consuming no more than “three square meals” a day in the hope of shifting your fat-burning efforts into high gear, you may actually be throwing the whole process into reverse.
2. Drink 10 glasses of water everyday.  It’s especially important to stay well hydrated when following a comprehensive training, nutrition, and supplementation program. Drink at least one glass of water with each of your six meals, and four more throughout the day.
3. Eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day.  Fruits and vegetables are packed with beneficial fibers, vitamins and antioxidants.
4. Drink Fewer Calories.  Drinking beverages such as soda, fruit juice, sports drinks, alcohol, specialty coffees and teas can add up to many “empty calories”.

Stress and anxiety are the fight-and-flight instincts that are your body’s way of responding to emergencies. An intruder crawling through your bedroom window in the dark of night may spark the response.  Fears and worries may also set off the instinct.

Tips for Preventing and Coping With Stress and Anxiety:

1. Participate in social and community activities. Social interaction and a sense of giving to your community enhance self-esteem and reduce stress.
2. Take care of yourself. Get regular exercise, eat nourishing food, and maintain a healthy weight.
3. Participate in activities you enjoy. Have you always wanted to learn a new language? Take up ballroom dancing? Mentor a child? Now is the time!
4. Stay focused on positive things and avoids negative self talk such as “I can’t do that” or “I’m too old.” When yourself talk is negative, you will feel more stress.
5. Remember stressful events that you successfully coped with in the past and repeat what worked before.
6. Focus on addressing your problems instead of feeling helpless about them. Think of them as “challenges” or “tests” rather than as insurmountable obstacles.

Do’s

DO prepare your bedroom for sleep reduce noise, reduce light, maximize comfort, have a moderate temperature.

DO lie down and try to sleep when you are actually sleepy.

DO exercise regularly and preferably earlier in the day (not within 3-4 hours of bedtime).

DO try to establish a sleep rhythm; maintain a regular bedtime and getting up time, regardless of how long you have slept the night before or if you have had trouble sleeping.

DO try to determine what your optimal amount of sleep is; different people require different amounts of sleep. Judge the amount of sleep you need on your daytime functioning

DO try to be informed and realistic about sleep; brief awakenings about every 90 minutes are a normal part of the sleep pattern.

Don’ts

DON’T consume caffeine containing drinks 4-6 hours before bedtime, e.g. coffee, tea, cola.

DON’T smoke near bedtime or during night time awakenings.

DON’T eat late evening meals.  If hungry before bedtime, a light snack may help sleep, e.g. warm milk, cheese and biscuits.

DON’T drink alcohol before bedtime – it may seem to help you get to sleep but usually causes awakenings later in the night.

DON’T lie awake in bed for longer than 30 minutes – this can cause anxiety and frustration.  Get up and do something relaxing until you feel sleepy again.